Testing the new Droid Turbo 2’s shatterproof screen

I love the outdoors, so having a phone display that won’t crack is a huge deal for me. Here’s what I found out.

Verizon

Jul 26, 2017

It’s a writing assignment you don’t get every day: Drop a smartphone on purpose.

But the phone’s groundbreaking feature isn’t something you come across every day either: Motorola says that its Droid Turbo 2 is the world’s first smartphone display guaranteed not to crack or shatter for four years.

That’s a huge claim, so I wanted to check it out for myself.

As someone who loves the outdoors—my passion is kayak fishing—I have a vested interest in a phone screen that can handle the occasional drop. Sure, paddling in a kayak doesn’t pose the same risks to my phone as mountain climbing or playing hockey, but I’m moving around a lot even before I get into the water. From loading or unloading the kayak onto the roof of my SUV to getting all of my gear ready, my phone could easily wind up on the pavement or gravel before I shove off.

I wondered how it would handle these situations, so I decided to test it out.

Here’s what I discovered before spending a day at the lake kayak fishing with the Turbo 2 (hey, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it).

Drop test 1: Falling from my pocket

I got right down to business by first testing the phone’s Moto ShatterShield™ screen. I wondered how it would handle being dropped from a relatively low height.

When I arrived at the lake, I backed my SUV onto the boat ramp and got out of my car with the Turbo 2 barely inside the left pocket of my shorts to see what would happen if it fell out.

“Oops.”

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I reached down to pick up the phone.

So far, so good. Dropping your phone while getting out of your car is a fairly common occurrence. Just ask my co-worker. Her phone fell out of her purse in the office parking lot. Spiderweb cracks spread across the display. Ouch.

Drop test 2: Falling from my SUV’s roof

Next, after unloading my kayak and gear, I placed the Turbo 2 on the roof of my SUV.

Pretending I forgot it was there, I drove off to park.

“Oops.”

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I stopped and got out to inspect the damage.

Nada. The screen looked good as new, even though it landed on concrete.

Phew.

Drop test 3: Falling from a kayak

Another scenario I imagined happens now and again would be absent-mindedly laying your phone on something that isn’t flat.

So I placed the Turbo 2 on top of a pile of kayaks sitting on a stand next to the lake, and watched it slide off the curved edge of a boat onto gravel.

“Oops.”

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No worse for wear.

My takeaways

For me, these tests left me convinced the Turbo 2’s shatterproof screen is the real deal. Something else to keep in mind: To get the perfect angle for the videos and photos my team and I took for this review, we must have dropped the phone about 30 times. The screen held up through all of that abuse.

You can see some dings and scrapes on other parts of the phone’s exterior, which comes as no surprise given that we really put it through the wringer. But regardless of how often you might drop it, I’d recommend investing in a quality rugged case. Since I’m often around lakes, I prefer using a LifeProof® fre® case because it’s also waterproof.

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